Grant Hill ready to retire? Give him a call, Suns!

Posted on Feb 07, 2013

Suns fans who hate to see their former players in other uniforms just might not have to see Grant Hill in a Clipper uniform for much longer.

Hill signed a two-year deal with the Clippers last summer after not getting offered a contract by the Suns. But only the first year is guaranteed, and Hill has played only 14 games this season while fighting off two knee injuries.

Hill gave every indication to me [Brian Schmitz] that he'll retire after the season, his first with the Los Angeles Clippers and 18th in the NBA.

"I'm 40 - come on," he said.

Fittingly, cruelly, in his final season, Grant has had to overcome two knee surgeries, having played just 14 games for the Clippers.

He doesn't buy the notion that his body was preserved sitting out most of his seven seasons wearing Magic colors.

"Doesn't matter. Forty is still 40," he said.

After being labeled the "next Jordan" while Jordan was still Jordan (but regressing ever so slightly), Grant Hill became one of the best free agents in the history of free agency. He signed a huge deal with Orlando (with Lon Babby as his agent), but only played a small fraction of that time due to myriad injuries. He went recovered his game in Phoenix for 6 seasons (still with Babby as his agent), becoming part of the fabric of the franchise during his tenure in the Valley.

But Hill missed a lot of his final season with the Suns due to multiple knee issues and, at 39, projected to start missing even more time in subsequent seasons. The Suns allowed him to move on while they turned away from their pair of almost-40 stars to jumpstart their future.

If Hill doesn't go directly into politics after his retirement, I hope he stays in the NBA as a front-office executive.

"Whenever Grant retires, he will have a world of opportunities to consider," Lon Babby said of Hill. "If he wants to work with an NBA team, he would be an outstanding addition to any organization."

I will start the campaign right here, right now to get him signed to join the Phoenix Suns front office next season!

He can be a special assistant to Lon Babby, his agent for more than a dozen years in the NBA until Babby took over the Suns basketball operations in 2010. I'm sure it was tough for Babby to let Hill go this past summer.